Blah blah:

So, it's actually been about 18 days since the last devlog. It was a draft, forgotten in the flurry of tasks, bug fixes, redos, redon'ts, refactors, and subconscious retaliation. I published it yesterday hoping it would have the correct date, but nope. I aim to maintain a semblance of regularity, pushing out updates every 15 days or so. It's not merely about documenting progress; it's about anchoring myself to the tangible work of creation, ensuring I don't lose sight of the project amidst the pleasures of discussing it. There's undeniable satisfaction in exploring the intricacies of my creation. That can lead to finishing it in my head since I live there as much or more than I do the outside world.

And thus, I find myself embarking on what I’ve come to call the “Burn Cycle.” Or just cycle for short. 15 days, two weeks, and a day. The first week is devoted to finishing and polishing the last week's work and making sure I’m on point to get to the next phase or feature, I’ll call it Burn-in. The second week is when we hit hard the first day and gradually taper off, we can say Tapering. The last day is a rest day. I can spend about two Earth days an Earth month on myself. Where the days between the first Hardcore day and the break gradually get more flexible.

I usually don’t organize. I just do stuff. I’m way too used to it. But maybe trying this will help in counteracting the inevitable energy drain that accompanies marathon coding sessions lasting 20 hours or more. Maybe I can stop that when I realize it’s happening with awareness. Recognizing the point of diminishing returns is key. While I loosely adhere to a Pomodoro-style method, it often falls by the wayside when I'm swept up in a creative surge. Those precious moments of flow that can last for hours. In those instances, ideas flow like a crystal-clear river, rather than a creek full of beer cans and used condoms, and I'm reluctant to dam that current of ideas and dopamine from the perception of accomplishment.

The insidious drain, the gradual depletion of both mental acuity and physical vitality. It's all too easy to remain glued to the terminal, rising only for a fleeting sip of water every few hours. But hydration alone won't suffice. What's needed is a disciplined approach to breaks. A commitment to stepping away from the screen at regular intervals. Self-discipline becomes paramount, reining in the impulse to surrender to the whims of inspiration, resisting the siren call of the Muse as she leads you on a wild romp through the streets of creativity, akin to a festive jaunt down Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras.

Well, I noticed that Godot has a lot of productive tools and I’m trying to take time to set up a productivity module alongside the project. I just have to figure out how to not include these add-ons in the build. I know there are a ton of things I need to exclude from my builds ATM, but I don’t really go through that yet. I’m a bit weary of dumping the 3D support Nodes as I may need something there, but I doubt it. That’s 3D physics too, so that will probably make the final package smaller. But I need a Pomodoro timer and a Trello linked to my project and actively bugging me, or something like it. I’ll have that road map posted here if I can at some point.

Development Meat:

So what did I do this cycle? I played a bit more No Man’s Sky and a few other games. I usually don’t play games when I’m working a lot, which is probably bad for my health. That may sound weird, but I do it a bit subconsciously and divert my intense desire for productivity into guilt and abstain from the fun stuff until I get enough work done. That is probably terrible for actual productivity. In fact, I’m probably just going to get my Trello/Kanban/Godello or whatever thing started and maybe get a few things figured out this afternoon, then play more NMS. It feels better if I call it, “Research.” 😁

I realized the work I wanted to do on the Conversation System was going to take at least a whole Cycle (15 days). That’s a bit too much, and if I crunched the second week I’d probably burn out a lot. So I found a couple of dialog systems and ended up on one that will probably get me through this week pretty well. So NPC interaction is basically done, but that makes way for a lot of systems and paths that require more assets and code. Yay. 1.5 prototype should be out soon, then on to getting it ready for alpha.

I got ModPlug Tracker music working from another handy add-on, so I have a bit of C++ I have to run through unless the author puts the goodies I need in it before I need them. The one thing I can do is monitor the Tracker song in Order, Pattern, and Row in real-time so I can check these and fire signals of my own when needed in GDScript, but I think the author will have these in a C++ form soon, as well as the volume of specific channels and perhaps even instrument and sample editing, which I hacked last night but can’t for the life of me find a decent .mptm file map for its data structure.

I have some ideas and add-ons for helping with mob movement and adding 2D planets, though landing on planets is probably way down the list of things to do. Probably will just have them be generated and have special things to explore at some point. It kinda leads to me wanting an on-foot experience. It would sort of be out of scope… maybe. A 2D overhead No Man’s Sky is not what I’m after and goes beyond the simple game. But just having a slow-paced, SmashTV, twin-stick-like shooter level for a basic away mission type function.

A few other things. I’d really like to start on the music since that’s my bread and butter and probably more fun, intuitive, artsy-fartsy, and flows easily. Less of a challenge than coding the logic, so also a bit less rewarding in some cases. Anywho, On to the next Cycle!